Improving income from internally generated funds without provoking students or staff strikes at Makerere and other universities.

Mayanja, Muhammad K.

Abstract:Higher Education institutions in Uganda, particularly, Makerere University, have again fallen under a funding trap as they did during the economic crisis of the 1970s and the 1980s. Money or no money, massification of higher education seems to be unstoppable in Uganda. The trap for Makerere and other universities is that the Government of Uganda is not ready to make substantial improvement in the budget for public higher education institutions while at the same time it is reluctant to let Makerere University and other public universities exercise the autonomy they are supposed to enjoy under the law to increase fees charged to private students. The implication is that Makerere University is rendered impotent to take any action about its predicament even though it was granted autonomy under the law. This situation calls for ingenuity, resourcefulness and receptiveness to all types of ideas to find a viable funding mechanism for higher education. The core funds for Makerere University as a public institution, are government, the private students fees and donor support. Other sources are supplementary. This article specifically reflect on one source of income, the internally generated funds (IGFs) which are mainly fees from private students. Two critical issues are at the heart of IGFs. First, can fees paid by private students be increased to improve overall revenue for the university? Raising the fees paid by private students can be explosive as it brings the Vice Chancellor in direct confrontation with students who are the most powerful internal constituency with capacity to exert pressure on government to intervene on their behalf. The second issue is centralization of the management of IGFs which has been recommended by the Visitation Committee to Public Universities (2007) in a bid to improve on the management of IGIGFs. The danger with centralization of IGFs is that it can kill the incentives for creativity and innovation as well as the motivation to take up the extra workload from teaching private students by the deans and academic staff at faculty level where the income is generated. Academic staff can put down their tools and paralyze the university or they can stop stretching their imagination and thinking creatively in form of a passive strike which is equally detrimental to nation building.The article concludes with suggestions for the future.

Mayanja, Muhammad K. (2007). Improving income from internally generated funds without provoking students or staff strikes at Makerere and other universities. The Uganda Higher Education Review. Journal of National Council for Higher Education.vol.4(2). pp.2-8